News Archive - 1998

The first sequence of an animal genome is essentially complete

Funded by the Medical Research Council and America's National Institutes of Health, the Sanger Centre and the Genome Sequencing Centre at St Louis have completed a 15-year project to sequence the complete genome of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.

This completed gene sequence gives scientists and health practitioners world-wide valuable information to aid the study of the human body in health as well as in illness and may for example lead to new treatments for disease.

Genome of typhoid strain to be tackled

A project to sequencing the genome of the bacterium which causes typhoid fever (Salmonella typhi) is now underway.

In collaboration with Professor Gordon Dougan from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, the Wellcome Trust funded Sanger Centre - the UK's leading genome research institute - is to sequence the genome of S. typhi CT18, a strain of S. typhi which is highly infectious and multi-drug resistant. Over 870,000 pounds has been awarded to the project through the Wellcome Trust's Beowulf initiative.

Wellcome Trust Announces Major Increase in Human Genome Sequencing

The Wellcome Trust has announced a major increase in its flagship investment in British science in the sequencing of the human genome, the book of life.

Previously committed to funding the sequencing of one sixth of the human genome at the Sanger Centre, the Wellcome Trust has today decided to double this to one third. This decision will make available an additional £110 million over seven years, bringing the total Trust investment in the Human Genome Project to £205 million.